Star Fox: Devastation
by KyleK12
Summary: Post-Command! Krystal is the lone survivor after a cold-hearted bounty hunter kills the rest of Star Wolf. She is forced to go to the one vulpine who can help her get revenge: Fox McCloud. But was it an ordinary bounty, or something more?
1. Funeral

**Star Fox and all characters belong to Nintendo, not me.**

**This story takes place approximately two years after Star Fox: Command.**

_Star Fox: Devastation_

_Chapter I: Funeral_

"_I'm sorry, Fox! I can't do this anymore. I'm going back to be with Panther and the rest of Star Wolf."_

On the bridge of the _Great Fox_, Fox McCloud shuddered at the memory that had been playing in his mind like a broken record since _she _left him. _She _being Krystal, the blue furred vixen that he met on Sauria when the vulpine saved her from a crystal prison. Afterwards, he asked her to join the Star Fox team, and then they had confessed their love for another several months after the Aparoid invasion.

Eventually, Fox began to fear for Krystal's safety and could not imagine living without her. That is when he made the most stupid mistake he ever made: Fox forced her off the team. He didn't mean for her to leave him, the vulpine just didn't want her to fly into danger. Weeks later, Fox heard about the vixen joining team Star Wolf, not to mention her new relationship with Panther Caroso. As much as the mercenary hated Wolf O'Donnell, the leader of Star Wolf, Fox hated Panther even more.

When the Anglars began their attack on the Lylat system, Fox was able to convince Krystal to join him and the rest of the reunited Star Fox team to help defeat them. A few months after defeating the Anglars, the vixen once again left Fox for Star Wolf and Panther, leaving the heart broken vulpine to wander the galaxy alone with only his robot ROB by his side.

As for the rest of the former members of Star Fox, they went on to live separate lives.

Peppy Hare, Fox's mentor and father figure, was promoted to general of the Cornerian army to replace General Pepper.

Slippy Toad eventually married his fiancée, Amanda. Fox had recently heard that she was about to have their first child. Fox, in some way, envied Slippy; he had someone that still loved him and a family starting.

Falco Lombardi joined Katt Monroe in order to form his own mercenary team that he called "Star Falco".

Fox would do anything for things to be as they were. He wished that he wasn't wandering the Lylat system with only ROB to keep him company. He wished that Krystal didn't leave him for Star Wolf and that bastard Panther.

Fox wished that something would happen to have everyone back together.

"ALERT!" ROB suddenly said. "INCOMING SHIP! INCOMING SHIP!"

Not soon after ROB's proclamation, something zoomed past the _Great Fox_, which Fox recognized as Falco's fighter, _Sky Claw_. _"Hey, McCloud!" _Fox heard the avian say over the communications channel. "_Do you read me Fox?"_

"Hey, Falco!" he replied. "It's been a long time. How's 'Star Falco' doing?"

"_Were doing pretty good," _Fox heard. _"Listen Foxy, I didn't come just to do some idle chit-chat. There's something we need to talk about old buddy."_

"Sure," Fox said unsure. "What's going on?"

"_I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but…" _Falco seemed to hesitate about telling Fox the news. _"It's about Peppy."_

Fox gulped, afraid of what was coming. "What about Peppy?" Fox asked nervously.

Falco sighed. _"Peppy had a heart attack Fox, he's dead."  
_On Corneria, Fox tried as hard as he could to fight back tears at the sight of the coffin of his old friend and mentor being lowered into the cold ground. He looked around to see old friends coming to mourn the passing of the old rabbit, those such as: Falco Lombardi with Katt Monroe by his side, Slippy Toad with his father Beltino Toad, Bill Grey, Dash Bowman, and a tear stricken Lucy Hare, crying for over the loss of her father.

* * *

As the ceremony ended, Fox went over to Lucy to try and comfort her. "Listen, Lucy," he said, "if there's anything I can do to help in any—"

"No Fox," she said, "it's fine. Thanks for all your help, but I'm going to do my best to try and get over this."

Fox nodded and followed the rest of the crowd out of the cemetery. As he began to return to the hangar where the _Great Fox _was being held, he couldn't help but notice a hooded figure standing across the street. The vulpine began to notice that the hooded figure had blue fur.

_Krystal! _Fox knew that it definitely was the blue furred vixen that had returned to Star Wolf long ago. He knew that she must have waited for the ceremony to end so that she wouldn't face Fox. That fact saddened him a little bit. Instead of going over to her, he just began to head back to the hangar.

* * *

Krystal watched Fox walking away from the cemetery. She was hoping that the vulpine wouldn't recognize her, but she knew that he saw her, but he chose to leave her alone instead of confronting her. To Krystal, she was relieved. The blue vixen did not want to hear another plea to from him for her to come back to her.

"_Even though that you know he still loves you" _a voice at the back of her mind said, but she ignored it.

Krystal walked across the street and up to Peppy's grave, where she left a single rose and a short prayer before leaving the cemetery. As she passed the iron gates, the blue vixen was completely unaware that a dark hooded figure was watching her from afar. It wasn't long before the figure began to follow her.

**Please review, but please, no flames.**


	2. Bounty

**Star Fox and all characters belong to Nintendo**

_Star Fox: Devastation_

_Chapter II: Bounty_

Krystal wasn't one to drink, but when she and the rest of Star Wolf were hiding out in a Cornerian bar with a female avian bartender to afraid to call the cops. The blue vixen took small sips from the beer mug while her fellow teammates, Wolf O'Donnell, Leon Powalski, and Panther Caroso, were complaining about their current situation.

"I don't get it," Leon whined, "we just risked our necks being picked up by the cops just so she can say good-bye to the rabbit that shot me down."

"Quiet Leon," Panther growled annoyed. "Whatever Krystal wants, Panther will give her. If she wants to say farewell to her old friend, we should all be glad that we are here to help her."

"You're absolutely right, Panther," Leon said with a sarcastic tone. "We should come to the planet where we have a HUGE bounty on our heads, except for little Miss Sunshine."

Wolf sighed. "I swear to God Leon," he groaned, "if you don't shut your mouth I'm going to do it for you."

Krystal wasn't listening to the trio conversing. Despite everything she's been through, her thoughts are always turning to one thing: Fox. No matter how hard she's tried, her thoughts are always on the vulpine that broke her heart. She remembered everything the two of them went through, their first mission together…their first date…their first kiss…and worst of all, that day.

* * *

_Fox and Krystal were strolling through Corneria Park one evening arm-in-arm just enjoying each other's company. They eventually came to the artificial lake in the center of the park._

"_Krystal," the vulpine soon said, "there's something we really need to talk about."_

"_Yes?" Krystal said. She knew this was coming; Fox had been tense for a while now. The blue vixen knew what it was; Fox was finally going to ask her to marry him._

"_Look, I've been thinking about this for a while now and I was thinking…" Krystal braced herself for it. "…that maybe you should leave Star Fox."_

_With that, her world came crashing down and Krystal just wanted to crawl into a hole and just die. "What…" she stuttered with tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. "Why? Please Fox, just tell me why?"_

"_Because I can't let you risk your life for the team anymore," he told her._

"_But that's what I do!" the blue vixen exclaimed. "It's my job Fox; it's all I have left. Please, I love you!"_

"_I love you too Krystal," Fox stated. "But don't worry, I got you an apartment and some money to support yourself with until you get a job. Everything will be okay, you'll see."_

"_You promised we'd be together forever!" Krystal yelled._

"_We are," Fox said, "we still will be."_

"_No Fox," Krystal said, "if I leave Star Fox, I leave you!"_

"_What?" Fox said shocked. He obviously hadn't expected this. "No Krystal, we can work this out."_

"_No Fox," she sneered, "we simply cannot. Good-bye Fox." With tears flowing freely from her eyes, she ran away from the vulpine._

"_Wait Krystal; please…Krystal…Krystal…"_

"…Krystal…Krystal…Krystal, are you alright?"

* * *

The blue vixen was snapped out of her memory by Panthers voice. She turned to see the feline staring at her. "Yes," Krystal said, "I'm quite all right."

"You tell yourself that, but Panther can see it in your eyes," he said. "Panther knows what you were thinking about. You were thinking about McCloud!"

"What?!" Krystal gasped. How could he have known? "That's ridiculous! Why would I ever think about Fox? He betrayed me!"

"And yet despite that," Panther sneered, "you still love him."

"You're being ridiculous," Krystal groaned. "I do not love Fox!"

"Then why did Panther find this in the _Cloud Runner_?" Panther asked holding up a photograph.

Krystal gasped as she recognized the photo that Panther was holding. The picture was of the blue vixen and Fox before he forced her off the team, they were taking a little vacation on Sauria and they were watching the sunset when Fox decided to take a picture. The picture was her and Fox holding each other as the sun was setting on the dinosaur planet.

"Give that back!" she screamed as the blue vixen tried to reach for the photo, but the feline was keeping out of her reach and laughed. After a few moments, Krystal drew her blaster and pointed it at him. "I mean it Panther, give it back."

"Why should I?" he asked laughing. "We both know that you're not going to kill me."

"That may be true," Krystal began pointing her weapon downward, "but I'll gladly turn you from a bastard into a bitch with one shot!"

Panther would've laughed at her bluff, but the feline looked into her eyes and knew that she was serious. "Fine," he groaned, reluctantly giving back the photo.

Krystal grabbed her photo and carefully placed it back into her pocket. She could not believe that Panther would invade her privacy and would take something that she obviously treasured.

Krystal saw the bar door open, and saw the strangest sight she ever saw. The figure was wearing some kind of black combat suit wearing a helmet; she guessed by the shape of the helmet that the wearer was a primate. The blue vixen saw that there were oxygen tanks attached to the back of the suit and tubes leading from the tanks to the helmet. Krystal wondered if the man had some kind of breathing problem, or a deformity.

Wolf took notice of the strange visitor. "Can I help you Mr.…"

The suited figure turned toward the lupine. "They call me Wrath," he said in a raspy voice.

Wolf was stunned by that name, he knew it well. Wrath was a bounty hunter, and a very dangerous one at that. Wrath was notorious for bringing in his bounties dead. No bounty has ever faced Wrath and lived to tell the tale.

"What exactly can we help you with Mr. Wrath?" Wolf asked.

"I heard you and your team were here," the bounty hunter said. "I thought I should give you some friendly advice. There's a huge bounty on your heads, I would start leaving if I were you."

"We're not worried," Wolf said sternly.

"You should be," Wrath rasped. That is when he brought out the machine gun that had been strapped around his right shoulder, aimed, and pulled the trigger. Krystal, Panther, and Wolf were able to avoid the gunfire, but Leon was not. His body was soon filled with bullet holes as the chameleon's dead body hit the floor.

"Hey!" the avian bartender yelled at the bounty hunter. "What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just—" Wrath, annoyed by her words, pointed his machine gun at the female avian and pulled the trigger. A hail of gunfire ended her life.

Wrath wordlessly and silently approached where Wolf was taking cover and forcefully pulled him up before pushing him against the wall. The bounty hunter then brought out a knife and brought it to the lupine's throat.

"I know you found it," Wrath whispered. "I know it's on Venom, but I need to know where exactly. Give me the coordinates, and I will let you live."

The Star Wolf leader did nothing but reach into his pocket and hand the bounty hunter a disk. "The location is on this," Wolf said.

"Excellent," Wrath rasped. Wolf thought he would let him go, but instead, the bounty hunter plunged the knife into the lupine's heart and dropped the dead body.

From their hiding spot, Panther and Krystal watched with shock and awe as Wolf's dead body fell to the floor. "Stay here Krystal," the feline said. "Panther is going to try and take him out."

"But—" Krystal began, but was shushed by Panther.

Panther began to creep behind the bounty hunter with a blaster in his paws. With unbelievable speed, Wrath turned around and grabbed him by the throat.

Panther began to panic as he saw the bounty hunter point a blaster at his head. "I want you to beg," he said.

"What?" Panther said confused.

"I want you to beg for your life," Wrath said. "You never know, I may let you go."

Everyone has their limits, even Panther as tears began to brim at his eyes. "Please," he sobbed, "Panther wants to live. Please, don't kill me…"

A slight trickling sound was heard by Wrath as he looked down to see yellow liquid dripping from Panther's legs and began to pool around his feet.

"You peed on my boots," Wrath said as he pulled the trigger on his blaster. He dropped the body of Panther as a hole was in the middle of his forehead. "I liked these books."

Wrath turned to leave the bar. "Hold it!" a voice from behind said.

The bounty hunter turned around to see Krystal pointing a blaster at her. He completely forgot about her. "Are you going to kill me?" he asked. "Do you really have the guts to do it?"

Krystal hesitated before dropping the weapon. "No, I don't," she said. "Go ahead, kill me! I have nothing left."

"No," Wrath said. "There is no gain from ending your life, the other three had bounties on their heads, and you do not." With that, he simply turned around and left the bar."

Krystal looked around and saw the bodies of her teammates and the innocent bartender as a great rage began to grow inside her. The blue vixen bolted out of the door with vengeance and retribution on her mind.

**Please review.**


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